1. Introduction

The tragic death of thirteen year old Aliyah Ismail, caused by a methadone overdose in 1999, created waves of anguish through the United Kingdom. The resultant media uproar, the revelations about her life in care and descent into prostitution, and the specially commissioned report by social care worker and legal activist Maddie Blackburn, laid bare the heartbreak and misery of abused and distraught British children who live and grow up in care, away from their natural parents. The incident led to widespread distress, intense soul searching and a resolve by the British people to take better care of their young. Even today, seven years down the line, late evening visits to King’s Cross station and Camden Town, the sleazy centres of London’s grim underbelly where Aliyah lived out the last days of her short life, throw up sights of young waifs, barely into their teens, propositioning customers or melting into the shadows. Some progress has been made but much still needs to be done.

Maddie Blackburn’s report on the incident was prepared on the express instructions of the Harrow local authorities, the body that functioned as Aliyah’s “corporate parents”^[1], and had complete responsibility for giving her parental care. Her study focussed on Aliyah’s distressing life under the supervision of the UK’s programme for children in care and was largely an indictment of the functioning of the social care system. Soon after, Liz Davies of the London Metropolitan University carried out a serious case review of Aliyah’s case. It is the objective of this assignment to study the Blackburn report, in conjunction with other governmental and independent findings, and analyse the causal factors behind the still grim circumstances in which children in care live in the UK.